Maria Gurova, born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1959. Ph.D. from the Institute of Archaeology at the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. Senior Research Fellow at the Prehistory Department, Institute of Archaeology, Sofia.
Mellon Fellow (1 February 2005 – 30 June 2005)
INCREASING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF PREHISTORIC FLINTS
My research concentrates on the spread of Neolithic culture from the Near East to the eastern Balkans and northwest Anatolia in terms of routes as well as stages of diffusion. Bulgaria was one of the first zones of Europe to be Neolithized while the Netherlands was one of the last. At NIAS, I devoted a great deal of time to the issue of the impact of Neolithic culture on different regions in Central and Western Europe. The excellent resources of the NIAS library gave me access to the theoretical background that I needed to piece together the mosaic of features that make up Neolithization as a phenomenon.
One of the most important events during my stay was the opportunity to participate in the laboratory for lithic analysis at the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden, under the direction of Dr. Annelou van Gijn. This successful and promising collaboration will continue within the frame of existing as well as new scientific projects.
I had productive discussions with Dr. Roodenberg, Director of NINO (Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden), with whom I have performed successful field work on the Neolithic settlements at Ilipinar and Menteşe (NW Anatolia). Complete agreement was reached concerning the preparation of the next volume on Ilipinar’s excavation as well as my further study in the framework of the Netherlands expedition in NW Anatolia, Turkey. I can conclude that, as a NIAS Mellon Fellow, the progress I hoped to make in my research projects was achieved.